Mass Effect is a fantastic RPG that is happily welcomed onto PS3
The story begins with the Normandy SR1 suffering an attack from an unknown cruiser. The ship and himself are destroyed. Then your created Shepard wakes up two years later to learn that Cerberus has rebuilt the Commander over two years and you set out to stop the collectors from carrying out their evil plans for humanity. Mass Effect 2's story is amazing, taking you across a vast galaxy, meeting many interesting and unique characters and revelations along the way. Being paragon or renegade also affects the endgame in particular, allowing players to shape their own story. For all PS3 gamers Bioware included a Dark Horse Comic detailing the original game's events and offering key decisions to make and import into the main game without having to play the original. The Collector threat feels much more immediate and exciting than the original game which encourages players to keep ploughing through the story.
Mass Effect 2's campaign only design stretches across a minimum of 20 hours on your first play through and even longer if you intend to explore every last planet and complete every side mission. After a training mission on a Cerberus station and an investigation to a human colony you'll be setting off in a brand new Normandy where the game truly opens up. You're free to explore the unlocked planets and the Normandy itself at your leisure, landing on key locations like the Citadel to buy weapons and upgrades, go to unexplored planets to complete side missions and scan them for resources to upgrade your weapons and landing on other planets to conduct story missions with a two man squad at your side. On your ship you can wander around, talk to other crew members, organise weapon load outs and upgrades and direct your ship around the galaxy. The upgrade system has been streamlined allowing for simple weapon upgrades which don't complicate things in menus. It's all topped off by an huge codex with information on everything in the Mass Effect universe making the game world even more immersive and detailed. Mass Effect 2 only offers a single player experience but you'll want to play through again with different classes and different decisions to see how the adventure will pan out. The PS3 version also comes with all three downloadable content packs with Lair of the Shadow Broker stealing the show as the best
As a third person shooter/RPG hybrid, Mass Effect 2 delivers in spades. Cover transfer and both team mate and enemy AI are both improved significantly from the first game. The paragon/renegade moral system is back allowing you to be the ultimate diplomat or badass you want to be in cut scenes with blue and red dialogue options appearing if you have enough morale points. Also new are the context actions where you can press L2 to perform a paragon option or R2 to perform a renegade. Shepard can peek out from cover to shoot targets or deploy powers to disrupt shields or burn armour. Abilities can be upgraded to a new more powerful form with skill points earned from levelling up, causing devastating effects in combat. Different powers are effective against different opponents which adds a tactical RPG element to the already solid combat Squad members have their own powers too and you'll have to choose the best team based on the enemies you will be facing. Their powers can be mapped to the R2 and L2 buttons now making combat more fast and fluid. Occasionally a small puzzle will slip in but for the majority of the game you'll be trading shots with the galaxy's worst while ducking behind cover to let your health recharge. Hacking also takes a role as you'll match codes and symbols to unlock doors and find valuable upgrades and credits on many computers, though if you fail hacking a computer then the upgrade is lost and you'll have to find it somewhere else which can be frustrating. The game can also slow to a crawl when you're forced to constantly go back and forth to planets and scanning them for minerals. Despite these issues the game keeps you in the the action and is immensely enjoyable to play
On top of being an impressive looking game, Mass Effect 2 boasts an deep and incredibly realised word that you'll want to explore. The characters are so realistic and detailed that you may start caring about them even when you aren't playing. Sweeping music is excellent across the entire experience and the character animations are perhaps the best ever seen in a game. Unfortunately the PS3 port wasn't without a cost, namely a choppy framerate in some of the download packs and an annoying game crash about a quater through the game which caused the data to become corrupted. Thankfully Bioware has since fixed this and the loading times aren't too long to diminish the immersion of this grand space opera.
Now that one of the best RPGs ever made has come to PS3, there's no reason for any hardcore gamer to ignore a fantastic game that continually thrills and delights. All fans of third person shooters, RPGs and futuristic games alike simply have to experience this masterpiece.